Balayage formula

Balayage formula: level 4 to 7

The kit and the 40 vol that leave a medium brown orange, then the foil, the 30 vol, the teased root and the two-bowl toner that take painted pieces to a real 7.

Published 2026-10-25. Written by the Easy Hair Edit team and checked against the rules the rest of the site follows.

Before and after: medium brown hair at level 4, then hand-painted balayage reaching level 7 on the ends — Left: medium brown hair at level 4, before. Right: painted pieces at a warm level 7, yellow-orange at the rinse, toned to a cool or neutral medium blonde over a natural 4 root, after powder lightener on 30 vol, 30 to 45 minutes in foils. Illustration, not a photograph.

This page is for you if

Your natural color is a medium brown that has never been colored, and the picture you keep is a brunette with lighter pieces through the ends and around the face, the root still brown
You tried a highlighting kit at home, the pieces came out orange, and you want to know what the bowl and the clock should have been
You are a colorist with a virgin 4 booked for her first balayage, who asked for sun-kissed, and you want the honest one-visit result stated before the powder is weighed

The formula

In the chair: 90 to 150 min with the toner; about an hour for a partial Hard Lasts 3 to 8 months before the regrowth is painted; the toner 4 to 8 weeks

Product: Powder lightener, bond builder in the bowl or built in, foiled over each painted piece; then demi 4N or 5N tapped at the root and 7.12 (7VB ash-violet) through the lengths
Developer: 30 vol (9%) off the scalp for the lightener; 20 vol on fine hair; 5 to 10 vol or nothing on pieces lightened before; 10 vol (3%) or the line's toning developer under the toner
Ratio: 1:1 to 1:1.5 for the powder, thick enough that a loaded brush does not drip; a clay lightener by its tub; the toner at the ratio on its tube
Amount: 30 g powder, about an ounce, to 30 to 45 g of 30 vol per bowl, mixed small and fresh; a second small bowl of 10 vol if any piece was lightened before
Processing: 30 to 45 minutes in foils, no added heat; the first foil painted opened at 10 and every 5 to 10 after; toner 5 to 10 minutes
Result: Painted pieces at a warm level 7, yellow-orange at the rinse, toned to a cool or neutral medium blonde over a natural 4 root

Steps

Ask the history before the level: a highlighting kit last spring, box color, henna. Old color on the lengths holds a stain under the lift, and the lightener leaflet says not to use it on hair treated with henna or metallic dye. Then read the natural level dry.
Patch test 48 hours ahead, a dab behind the ear or in the crease of the elbow, and again whenever the product changes.
Weigh 30 g of powder into 30 to 45 g of 30 vol with the bond builder at its own dose, non-metal bowl, whisked until there are no lumps. Mix what goes on in the next 15 minutes. Ends lightened before get a second small bowl on 10 vol, or stay out.
Four quadrants off the natural part, nape first. Diagonal-back or V subsections, brick-laid, each teased from mid-shaft up. Paint from the mids down: opaque through the ends, feathered up toward the tease with less paste and less pressure, never pressed through and never up into the tease. Foil over it.
Hairline and baby hairs last, the finest sections, the least paste. Some colorists step the front bowl to 35 so the front catches the back.
One timer when the last foil is in. Open the first foil painted at 10 and every 5 to 10 after, no dryer. Rinse in painting order between 30 and 45 minutes, when the wiped piece reads yellow-orange dry. A wet strand that stretches and stays stretched comes out that minute.
Shampoo, condition, towel-dry. A 4N or 5N tapped at the top inch of each lifted piece, then 7.12 (7VB) through the lengths, both demi on 10 vol, roots first, ends last, 5 to 10 minutes with a wipe at 5. Bond step 10 minutes. Dry it fully before anyone judges it.

From the chair

Judge a wiped piece once it is dry: under the paste it reads whiter than it rinses, and wet it reads a level darker.
Clean hands and a clean brush between sections, or paste lands on hair meant to stay brown and shows as a spot.
Forty vol lifts fast and dies fast. Nobody puts it on a scalp, most keep it off a painted brown entirely, and the few who use it do so in open air with a freehand lightener.

What should have been mixed

Powder lightener with a bond builder, 30 vol (9%) at 1:1 to 1:1.5 so the paste holds its shape, painted from the mids down on teased diagonal-back sections and foiled for 30 to 45 minutes with no added heat, takes the painted pieces of a natural level 4 to a warm level 7. The root stays brown. At the bowl, two demi toners on 10 vol: a 4N or 5N tapped at the top of each piece, a 7.12 (7VB) through the lengths, 5 to 10 minutes.

The wrong version is a highlighting kit on a medium brown ponytail: pieces brushed, cream left for the minutes on the box, orange at the rinse, then a purple shampoo that cannot touch it, since purple is for yellow and a level 4, medium brown lifts into red-orange and stalls. The other is 40 vol for an hour in open air: fast to work, fast to die, same orange.

Neither is a formula, so here is the bowl.

Why does a balayage kit turn medium brown hair orange?

Red-orange is the pigment under a 4, and a thin coat rinsed at the printed minute stops there. Paste looks whiter than the rinse, and a wet piece reads a level darker, so the kit comes off early. A second coat that day is how ends snap. Today’s fix is a blue demi at the level those pieces reached.

Powder, 30 vol, and a paste that stays put

Powder lightener, bond builder in the bowl or built in, on 30 vol (9%), the strength for paste that never touches skin. A 1:1 mix is the strongest, and hand painting runs 1:1 to 1:1.5 so it keeps its shape. A runny one bleeds. Thirty grams of powder, about an ounce, takes 30 to 45 g of developer, and any bowl size converts here.

Tease, paint, foil, and rinse in that order

Diagonal-back or V subsections, nape first, bricked so each drops over hair left brown, which is the dimension. Tease from the mid-lengths up, then paint from the mids: opaque through the ends, feathered upward with less paste and pressure, never pressed through or into the tease, where it leaves bleed marks. Foil each piece, hairline last. Timer with the last foil in, no dryer, first piece painted opened at 10, then every 5 to 10. Foils rinse in painting order between 30 and 45 minutes, once a wiped piece dries to yellow-orange, the pigment under a 7. Hair that stretches wet comes out then.

How light can medium brown hair go in one balayage?

In foils on 30 vol, a warm 7, sometimes an 8. A foil traps the head’s heat and keeps the paste moist, so a brown lifts less orange and more yellow. Some lift to an 8 and tone down to the 7 asked for, since a toner reads cleaner over a lighter lift. Others stop at 7 and tone there. A 9 is the 4 to 8 route or a second painting.

Can balayage lighten medium brown hair without bleach

Not by three levels in painted pieces. Lightener is what lifts part of the head while the rest stays brown. A permanent 7.12 on 30 vol takes a virgin 4 up three levels, as a full-head service with its own formula page.

Developer and ratio by what the hair has been through

Heads arrive mixed.

The hair	Developer	Mix	What changes
Virgin 4	30 vol (9%)	1:1 to 1:1.5	Foils, 30 to 45 min, warm 7
Lightened before	Out, or 5 to 10 vol	Own bowl	Toner refreshes it
Coarse, resistant	30 vol, 35 at the front	1:1	Full 45 in the foil
Fine or porous	20 vol	1:1 to 1:1.5	First foil at 10, clear on the ends
A share of white	30 vol, unchanged	Same	Nothing to expose. Some cover regrowth first, 4N on 20 vol

Three levels off a 4 is a foil job Open air on a plain powder leaves a 4 at a gold 6 or 7. In a foil the same paste reaches a warm 7 to 8 in 30 to 45 minutes.

Two toner bowls for the strongest warmth on the chart

A 7 sits over yellow-orange, the heaviest warmth on the scale, so this pair gets a toner, picked after the rinse on towel-dried hair. Bowl one: a 4N or 5N tapped at the top inch of each piece, so the grow-out has no line. Bowl two: the same-level demi that cools a 7, a 7.12 or 7VB, through the lengths: blue for the orange half, violet for the yellow half, since blue alone drifts green and violet alone ignores the orange. Both demi on 10 vol or a 5 to 9 vol toning developer, roots before ends, wiped at 5 and pulled by 10, though some run a 7 to 20. The tap costs something: the next lightener lifts through it and can band.

Will the orange fade on its own with washing

No. The orange is pigment the lightener uncovered, and shampoo takes nothing off it. Violet shampoo is upkeep on toned hair and does nothing to an orange 6 or 7. A blue demi at the level the piece reached takes it down.

The next painting, 3 to 8 months on, takes the new growth only.

Asked after a kit went orange

How long does balayage take on medium brown hair?

About 90 to 150 minutes for a full head with the toner: 30 to 45 minutes of painting, 30 to 45 in the foils, a shampoo, and 5 to 10 minutes of toner. A partial, a few foils at the face and a handful behind, is about an hour. The painting is the long part, and a stronger developer does not shorten it; 40 vol runs out fast and most colorists keep it off a painted brown.

Is 30 or 40 volume better for balayage on dark hair?

Thirty. It is the everyday off-scalp balayage developer because the paste never touches skin, and in foils it takes a 4 to a warm 7 in 30 to 45 minutes. Forty lifts fast and dies fast, sits an hour in open air and over-lifts fine pieces; the few who use it do so with a freehand lightener made for open air, and others refuse it on a brown. It never goes on a scalp. Anything lightened before gets 10 vol or nothing.

Can a level 4 get to blonde in one balayage?

To a warm 7, sometimes an 8, in foils on 30 vol. That is a brunette with medium blonde pieces after the toner, and it is what a first visit on a medium brown honestly gives. A 9 through the ends is a second painting months later over pieces that are already a 7, or a clay lightener made for open air, which claims more per session. Bright blonde from a brown is more than one visit, and a colorist says so before the powder is mixed.

Why does my balayage look orange in photos when it looked fine at the salon?

The tone was never fixed. A demi toner leaves over 4 to 8 weeks, and a 7 sits over yellow-orange, the strongest warmth on the scale, so each wash shows a little more of it. A warm indoor bulb reads lifted hair lighter and more golden than daylight does, so the same head reads differently from room to room. A demi refresh at the bowl brings the cool back without lightener, and purple shampoo once a week between visits slows the slide.

Why does the root stay its natural brown?

Because the root left alone is what makes it balayage and what lets it grow out without a line. A head saturated from the scalp down is an ombre with a bleach line at the top, needing a retouch every four to six weeks like a highlight. With the root left brown the next lightener is 3 to 8 months away. The 4N or 5N tap blurs the top of each piece into that root, and it can be skipped, because the next lift goes through the deposit and can band.